LONGMONT -- If you look past the detectives and police officers at a crime scene, if you look past the police-line tape and the flashing lights, you might see Dawn Cavins in the background, bagging items of evidence.

In the basement evidence room of the Longmont Police Department, Dawn Cavins plays a pivotal role on which criminal cases -- major and minor -- can turn. Her job can include collecting evidence at crime scenes along with police officers and detectives, but she also is in charge of keeping track of that evidence and who has had access do it and when. She has often testified in court about collecting evidence and the "chain of custody," which can become an issue in criminal defense cases to show that the evidence had not been compromised since it was taken into police custody.

Sometimes that is months. Sometimes it's years.

Cavins spends most of her time working in the basement of the Longmont Police Department, and her environment can be considered a bit creepy. The basement houses boxes of evidence. Much of it can be from property crimes. For instance, a large remote-controlled helicopter that was stolen in Longmont sits on top of the storage shelves. But there is also evidence taken from assaults, sexual assaults and homicides.

"I try to look at it more scientifically instead of taking it personally," she said, after explaining the use of a metal "drying" cabinet. Evidence can be hung or placed in the cabinets to dry from crime scenes. Sometimes the liquid that needs to be dried is blood.

Cavins stumbled into the job 25 years ago this month. She was looking to leave her work as a dental hygienist and found a job listing for a report taker at the Longmont Police Department. Shortly after she started, she moved to the property room, which at the time was in the Civic Center building.

"We had mice at the time, too," she recalled. "They would get into the marijuana."

Times have changed.

Seized drugs are now held in a sealed room in the basement. When the door swings open, the stench is overwhelming, though Cavins said she doesn't notice it. Drug evidence is typically small enough that it can be stored in yellow envelopes, carefully labeled and then filed like any other envelop. However, large bags of plants seized from scenes are stacked onto higher shelves.

She and her co-workers also have to store oddly sized evidence, such as mattresses, a mangled safe, even a door from an arson with a note scrawled in Sharpie that indicated the fire was only the first.

Everything is logged in a system and tracked by barcode.

As 2012 draws to a close, the Times-Call takes a look at the people who make our community work, 365 days a year. Through Jan. 2, read about the people whose names and faces might not have been familiar to you, even if the jobs they do are.

Sunday Linda Allour, doughnut maker

Monday Tom Carpenter, piano tuner

Tuesday Jose Chavez, letter carrier

Wednesday Dawn Cavins, crime scene technician

Thursday Kyle Miller, public works director

Friday Larry West, maintainer of school sports facilities

Saturday Deb Romero, blood drawer

Sunday Keith Kendall, wastewater treatment worker

Monday Kris Luis, custom motorcycle builder

Tuesday Clayton Schultz, skydiving pilot

Wednesday Sandy Lenhardt, lunch lady

While Cavins is not an officer, she sees plenty of the aftermath of crimes. Her first homicide was a shooting scene, and it sticks with her to this day. However, she said, Longmont police are supportive and there are people to talk with about dealing with emotions in the wake of crimes.

"You have to kind of pull yourself away," she said of one of the mechanisms of dealing with a scene.

She learned this while assisting investigators at autopsies, where she sometimes has to take photos for evidence.

"This job is always a learning experience," she said. "I learn something on every scene."

Cavins learned most of her craft while working and during training on evidence collection, DNA collection and preservation, even blood spatter analysis. Now there are plenty of programs for crime scene techs, an educational field bolstered by the popularity of crime procedural television shows, but she said there are far more graduates than jobs.

"Not anybody can do this job," she said. "It takes a certain kind of personality to do it, and I don't know if you can know if you are that kind of person unless you do it."

Along with a strong constitution and the ability to get through a crime scene emotionally intact and handle bizarre work hours, Cavins said, anyone interested in the work needs to be organized and highly detail oriented.

The proper collection and preservation of evidence can help solve crimes even years later. She pointed to a sexual assault case solved 10 years later thanks to DNA evidence that she helped to preserve.

"By being meticulous and keeping track ... It is a really good feeling," she said.

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